Debadge or Plasti Dip

I did a little of both. I PlastiDipped the door badges, took of the TRD Sport stickers, and replaced the tailgate badges with a TRD Badge.





My truck also developed a slight medical condition in the process...



I think the PlastiDip with the BHLM and a little window tint made the truck look 1000x better!

Before:


After:

 

Looks good. Only recommendation is to remove the nerf bars. (I know... You didn't ask for my opinion )

 

I plan on it. When I go home for my mid-tour I'm going to put on some black nerf bars or Avid sliders... just can't decide on which right now.

 

Avid sliders no doubt. They are functional and look cool as shit.

Thanks for your service by the way!

 

I'm leaning more towards the Avids because they are cheaper lol. I'll probably just get the bolt ons because I don't see myself doing more than some light off roading to get to camp sites.

Also, thank you for your service as well. I have tremendous respect for our nations First Responders and LE. Your life is on the line more often than mine, so thank you.

 

So want to do the BHLM to my truck (Super White FTW) but can't work up the balls to actually do it. I don't mind sticking it in the oven, I'm just paranoid I'm going to have leaks and condensation when it's done. Ugh, first world problems.

 

I decided to go a differant route, when the weather turns a little warmer Im gonna remove the Tacoma badges and install Hilux Badges from Australia
see if that gets some questions on the street

 

Haha, my Tacoma was the 4th vehicle I have opened a headlight on. I runied a set of headlights on a Jeep Grand Cherokee on my second attempt. But the others have been smooth.

I followed this write up for my Tacoma, and the 3M Window Sealer was the best tip I've had for resealing. A nice thick bead and I haven't seen any water in my lights even after high pressure car washes and down pours.

 

Yeah, I bookmarked that a few weeks ago as it seemed to be the best write up.

Crap, after seeing your truck I may have to try it. Haha, looks great man!

 

Yeah the bolt on would be just fine for what you want to do. I personally like how they look also. I would probably go with the same thing since I don't do any "hard core" off roading so the welded on would most likely be wasted on me.

 

It's really not that hard honestly. Kind of like you said, working up the nerve to actually do it.

I did my first set back in 2004 on this. If I'm honest, it scared the shit out of me when I did it but it turned out perfect. I've been doing them every since





My 2011 before I traded it in.



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The 13 is the first one that I can't bring myself to do. There just isn't enough "surround" inside to paint for the trouble of me breaking them apart. Now... If I were going to "retro" them then yeah. I would paint the entire light black but I doubt I mess with that since I'm pretty happy with the light output of the stock lights.

 

Plastidip for sure. Hate debaged. You can't call it a Tacoma if it don't even say it anywhere!

 

I ordered some black xrunner badges from ShopTRD.com per a recommendation from another member here. They should be here by the end of the week and I'll post some picks when I get them on.

 

I dipped mine gloss black with a blue metallic flake

 

New emblems came in! They look pretty great.

EDIT: Well after posting this it appears that I didn't get the TOYOTA perfectly level. Oh well you don't notice unless you are withing a foot.